Fidelity Investments releases a study each year estimating the out of pocket cost for healthcare expenses.
Their recently updated study for this year puts the tab at $275,000 for a couple during retirement (https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/retiree-health-costs-rise), which is $15,000 more than the last time they released their numbers.
This does not include the potential cost of long term care expenses, which added an additional $130,000.
Health Care costs may be one of the largest single expenses for retirees and requires careful planning.
Although most retirees plan on incurring out of pocket costs, many underestimate them and most retirees do not make a plan for how they will cover costs associated with a potential long term care expense.
When planning for retirement, make sure that you coordinate properly with both Medicare specialists and those qualified to help create a plan for long term care expenses.
A healthy couple has over a 70% chance of needing some form of long term care as well….and so it is a risk that cannot be ignored. Fortunately, traditional long term care insurance is not the only option to cover the risk, and more and more creative alternatives are being developed that allow for coverage without being “use or lose”.
If you have questions or would like to explore non-traditional long term care alternatives, please contact me.
